2016 SAG Award Winners

In most years, the Screen Actors Guild Awards are considered a predictor for the Oscars. In light of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, however, voters for the Saggies (that’s not actually what the trophies are called, but it should be) made a point of distancing themselves from this year’s Oscar nominations.

I don’t say that to diminish Idris Elba’s unprecedented simultaneous dual wins in both film (supporting actor) and television (miniseries) categories. I’m sure he was worthy of both. I haven’t had a chance to watch ‘Beasts of No Nation’ yet, but I’ve heard great things about his performance in it. I have seen a little of ‘Luther’ and thought he was pretty great. In general, I think Idris Elba is awesome and deserves as much exposure as he can yet.

What I mean is that the ceremony itself proudly trumpeted its commitment to diversity, diversity, diversity as the theme of the night. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help noticing that, aside from Elba, all of the wins for African American actors (Uzo Aduba, Viola Davis, Queen Latifah, and to some extent the ‘Orange Is the New Black’ ensemble) were in the television categories, not movies. In fact, the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ ensemble represented the only other nomination for any non-white actors in film. Beyond that and Elba, all of the other movie nominations were just as lily white as the Oscar nominees.

I think it’s worth noting that the SAG Awards and Oscars have a lot of overlap in their voting pools.

Elba’s win will have no effect on the Oscars this year. He’s not even nominated there. Despite the lack of a SAG nomination, Sylvester Stallone will still most likely take home the Supporting Actor Oscar.

On the other hand, SAG wins in other categories will certainly bolster the Oscar chances for Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander. At this point, I’d say that DiCaprio is a lock for the Oscar and Larson is a frontrunner in her category. I’m not so sure about Vikander. I still think she was nominated for the wrong movie (it should have been ‘Ex Machina’) and she’ll eventually lose to Jennifer Jason Leigh, but Leigh didn’t get a SAG nomination at all so my confidence there is shaky.

The closest thing the SAG Awards have to a “Best Picture” equivalent is the “Cast in a Motion Picture” prize, which went to the acclaimed journalism drama ‘Spotlight’. That makes sense given the ensemble nature of its story. ‘The Revenant’ wasn’t nominated here, but that movie is much more of a one-man-show for DiCaprio than an ensemble. From the looks of things, ‘The Revenant’ seems to have the most momentum for the Best Picture Oscar.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

The nominees:

‘Beasts of No Nation’

‘The Big Short’

‘Spotlight’

‘Straight Outta Compton’

‘Trumbo’

Winner: ‘Spotlight’

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

The nominees:

Bryan Cranston, ‘Trumbo’

Johnny Depp, ‘Black Mass’

Leonardo DiCaprio, ‘The Revenant’

Michael Fassbender, ‘Steve Jobs’

Eddie Redmayne, ‘The Danish Girl’

Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

The nominees:

Cate Blanchett, ‘Carol’

Brie Larson, ‘Room’

Helen Mirren, ‘Woman in Gold’

Saoirse Ronan, ‘Brooklyn’

Sarah Silverman, ‘I Smile Back’

Winner: Brie Larson

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

The nominees:

Christian Bale, ‘The Big Short’

Idris Elba, ‘Beasts of No Nation’

Mark Rylance, ‘Bridge of Spies’

Michael Shannon, ’99 Homes’

Jacob Tremblay, ‘Room’

Winner: Idris Elba

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

The nominees:

Rooney Mara, ‘Carol’

Rachel McAdams, ‘Spotlight’

Helen Mirren, ‘Trumbo’

Alicia Vikander, ‘The Danish Girl’

Kate Winslet, ‘Steve Jobs’

Winner: Alicia Vikander

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

The nominees:

‘Downton Abbey’

‘Game of Thrones’

‘Homeland’

‘House of Cards’

‘Mad Men’

Winner: ‘Downton Abbey’

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

The nominees:

‘The Big Bang Theory’

‘Key & Peele’

‘Modern Family’

‘Orange Is the New Black’

‘Transparent’

‘Veep’

Winner: ‘Orange Is the New Black’

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

The nominees:

Peter Dinklage, ‘Game of Thrones’

Jon Hamm, ‘Mad Men’

Rami Malek, ‘Mr. Robot’

Bob Odenkirk, ‘Better Call Saul’

Kevin Spacey, ‘House of Cards’

Winner: Kevin Spacey

Outstanding Performance by Female Actor in a Drama Series

The nominees:

Claire Danes, ‘Homeland’

Viola Davis, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’

Julianna Margulies, ‘The Good Wife’

Maggie Smith, ‘Downton Abbey’

Robin Wright, ‘House of Cards’

Winner: Viola Davis

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

The nominees:

Ty Burrell, ‘Modern Family’

Louis C.K., ‘Louie’

William H. Macy, ‘Shameless’

Jim Parsons, ‘The Big Bang Theory’

Jeffrey Tambor, ‘Transparent’

Winner: Jeffrey Tambor

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

The nominees:

Uzo Aduba, ‘Orange Is the New Black’

Edie Falco, ‘Nurse Jackie’

Ellie Kemper, ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, ‘Veep’

Amy Poehler, ‘Parks and Recreation’

Winner: Uzo Aduba

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

The nominees:

Idris Elba, ‘Luther’

Ben Kingsley, ‘Tut’

Ray Liotta, ‘Texas Rising’

Bill Murray, ‘A Very Murray Christmas’

Mark Rylance, ‘Wolf Hall’

Winner: Idris Elba

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

About Josh Zyber

Josh Zyber is a veteran movie and video disc reviewer from Laserdisc to DVD and beyond. He's previously written for DVDFile.com, DVDTalk.com and Home Theater magazine. These days, he wastes most of his free time managing this blog and writing the occasional Blu-ray review for High-Def Digest.

2 comments

Shannon Nutt

What I brought away from the telecast is how well-run it was. No obnoxious host, no monologue, no silly stunts by the actors presenting. Even the honorary award (to Carol Burnett) was classy and just the right amount in length.

The Academy Awards and the Golden Globes (and half a dozen other award ceremonies) could learn a thing or two from watching how the SAG Awards were presented.

SAG has far fewer awards to present, which makes the ceremony much more manageable. I actually think that that Golden Globes are very well run considering how many prizes they have to hand out. The show always runs like clockwork and ends right on time.

The Oscars… yeah, that show is a slog every year, and only seems to be getting worse. That ceremony needs a total overhaul.

Subscribe to The Bonus View RSS

Get all latest Bonus View content delivered to your email daily!

Welcome to The Bonus View presented by High-Def Digest!

This blog serves as a catch-all for topics, beyond Blu-ray, that interest us as home theater junkies including movies in theaters, high-definition gear, television shows, video games and 3D programming.